Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-10-06
THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE.
Some Account Of the Mariners,
Compass.
The Dreadful Secret possessed Bv Fr,ar
Bacon-How the knowledge was snh-
sequentiy Utilized and Ocean Navi-
tion Made Possible.


wheel is printed on the wheelhouse of
many sea-going steamers. Whv must
the man at the wheel ,aot be spoken TOP
Because, during his wo hours turn. his
attention ought to- be fixed upon his
compass. Let him turn to passenger
TO answer question, and the vessel
will w depart sligbtly from her course.
lime Will be ost, force will be wasted.
and the ste,crsman will hear short
sharp woro. from the officer of the deck,
ealing b I'M back to his duty.
Inc compass is the very eye of the
snip A skilful seaman. using the
knowledge which the compass has al
r,eady given him, could navigate ves-
sci across the Atlantie-in time. It is
fthe compass that enables the captain
ITO shoot his arrowy steamer over the
;trackless sea in less than week,
through fog, darkness and storm, with
'out swerving from his course.
Man possesses few instruments more
valuable than this, and yet no one
knows who invented it. If we ask the
Chinese, the people who invented so
many useful things, they point to some
obscure passages in their ancient books,
which do not prove their claim. If the
Chinese had the compass, why did they
not use itp From time immemorial
their numbering junks hugged the
shore, and rarely ventured further out
to sea than to Japan, which is only a
few miles from the coast of Asia.
If we ask the Greeks, we begin to
get little light on the subject, for the
Greeks at least know something of the
attractive power of the magnet. They
tell us. in their neurological way, that
shepherd named Magnes, while pas
turing his flock upon Mount Ida, found
one day that the iron at the end of his
staff adhered to the ground and to the
nails upon his shoes. He picked up
some of the dark-colored stones under
his feet, brought them home with him,
and thus gave to mankind knowl-
edge of the magnet, which was named
after him. The Greeks were great
story-tellers. They had their legend.
about every thing, and this at,ou,
Magnes is one of them, from witch we
can at least learn that they were &C.
quainted with the magr.et power Of
attraction; but they L..new nothing OF
that valuable quail. ..cy which it imparts
to the needle cl the compass. They
knew no messhod of steering vessels in
the open sea except by the stars, the
High, Of birds, and glimpses of the dis
tent highlands.
Nor did the Romans. The Roman
writers were lost in wonder at the mag
nets attractive power, but there theil
knowledge of 1t ended. The elder
Pliny speaks of it with the simple
amusement of child.
"What is there in existence, he
asks "more inert than piece of rigid
stonep And yet behold! Nature has
here endowed stone with both sense
and hands. What is there more stub
born than hard ironp Nature has il
this instance bestowed upon it botf
feet and intelligence. 1t allows itself
In fact, to be attracted by the magnet
The moment the metal comes near i
it springs toward the magnet, and, al
it clasps it. it is held fast in the
magnets embraces"
This was written about the yea
seventy of our era, and there is nj
proof that any one in the world hac
vet detected the marvellous power o
the magnet to impart to a piece OF iror
the propensity to point to the north
The passage in the New Testamen
which describes the eventful voyage
and shipwreck of St. Paul, speak
(Acts 2S:1S) of fetching a compass,
but the new version gives bette
translation, "we made circuit, an'
came to Rhegium. No Mediterranean
pilot In the time of st. Paul steered hi
bark by the aid of the magnetic needle
1t was at some time near the end o
the twelfth century of the Christiai
era that the mysterious power OF tn
magnet upon the needle became know
to few of the learned men of Europe
Probably the knowledge of it wa
brought to them by the Crusaders re
turning from the Holy Land. and ther
is much reason to believe that TN
power of the magnet was first on
served, by the Arabs, an lngenlou
race. and the most skillful travellers II
the Middle Ages, whether on sand o
sea. The Crusaders began to return
home in numbers about A. D. llOOo
and the knowledge of the magnetl
needle gradually spread over the mort
of Europe. The bold Norwegians seer